Dragon eggs, River Nile and writing quest stories is just a sample of what has been happening and is documented in Around the Classes, so please read on to find out more…

To view the Summer 2024 edition of Family First, supporting Department of Health and NHS in improving mental and physical wellbeing of families, please click here 

CCTV is now installed covering the front gates and car park for safety and security and our CCTV policy is available to view here 

Diary date: 3.30pm – 5pm on Friday 5th July the summer fair is on the school field

Wishing you all a super weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff (more…)

Apologies for the late posting of last week’s newsletter (technical hitch) and please do read it, because there is important information on there as is there also below and in the Around the Classes section further on in this post. Not to mention the whole of main school recording their own song..!

Staffing of classes will remain the same next year, which means: Nursery is Steph Olliffe, Lucy Davie-Llewellyn,  Nicky Elphick, Michelle Wilson and Emily Day; Reception is Claire Bannister and Cathy Ley; Year 1 is Sarah Malyn, Fleur Monroe and Helena Grant; Year 2 is Eleanore Stanbury, Jane Halloway and Jillian Harris; Year 3 is Emily Wetz and Sue Hughes-Whiffing; Year 4 is Olivia Avery and Kellie Evans; Year 5 is Julie McMorine, Lisa Evans and Sue Evans and Year 6 is Kathryn Mitchell, Lisa Evans and Kay Carstairs.  Teacher release time in Years 3-6 will be covered by Jo Carr.  Children will meet their new teachers next Thursday morning.

Wishing you all super weekend

From Jeremy Cooper and all of the children and staff (more…)

Please ensure all jumpers and cardigans are named, because after each lunchtime we are putting numerous in the lost property box.

https://nationalcollege.com/guideshttps://nationalcollege.com/guides

Atlantic Racquet Centre, Bideford, is holding on Saturday 6th July a  free family open day. No booking required, simply come along and enjoy guaranteed fun whatever the weather! For more information click here

The age children can be involved in receiving and attempting to send photos or videos containing nudity is falling and is not uncommon for children at primary school age. Settings on Apple devices can provide protection for children using Apple services (eg iMessage and FaceTime) and more information can be found here. for further advice on setting restrictions, including for android devices, please click here.

Players needed for a new u10s girls team at Bideford Blues and Appledore JFC. For more info, please click here

Appledore Carnival is on 11th August and last year Appledore School won various categories. If you would like to take part, please contact me. Tel 07813183467.
It’s on 11th August. We won our category last year!!

AROUND THE CLASSES

This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been finding out about summer and where that fits in with the seasons. We have talked about the things that we enjoy doing in the summer and painted pictures of them. We also made a moving sea picture. On Tuesday we had our annual Turtle and Dolphin Sports Day.

We have had a busy week in Year 1. The children have written their own versions of Jack and the Beanstalk. There have been some really imaginative ideas and they have designed their own front cover for their stories. We will hopefully be sharing their stories with the Reception children very soon. In Maths, we have completed our unit on position and direction which has been great fun. We have played lots of games, practised giving directions to each other and created algorithms in computing on ScratchJr app to support this. A new test has been put on Maths.co.uk for the children to complete if they wish. We have also completed our Phonics Screening Check this week and well done everyone!

Year 2 have had another good week. At the end of last week, they enjoyed their outdoor learning session as they were able to carry out an investigation to see if bulbs could be planted upside down. In Maths, they looked at pictograms and answered questions about them. In English, they have been writing different types of sentences and had a go at writing some new instructions using their brilliant imaginations. They have been completing end of year assessments this week to show everything they have learned this year and worked really hard on them – well done! They all enjoyed a cricket session at the beginning of the week and were able to play lots of different mini games leading up to a final game of batting and fielding. Everyone has worked so hard to make a sound out of their trombone that they were able to play along to a song! We will try to record it soon and put the video on Google Classroom so you can see how well they have done!

We are all set for recording our song next week. The children have been involved in the creative process and have learnt why we changed the key, why different parts were shifted an octave, why the song is structured a particular way and the have learnt to sing it dynamically. They have also seen why, when being creative in any art form, you sometimes have to let go of your original ideas in favour if something better and that a project needs to be reworked and reworked until you are happy with it. Most importantly they have seen that in order to achieve any measure of success you have to work jolly hard. They have enjoyed the process and I am sure we will have something that we can all be proud of at the end of it. Alongside the song, in music lessons, year 3 have learnt to play a recorder piece in two parts. Year 4 made a recording of their recorder playing. Year 5 continued to practice their fingering for a tricky piece and year 6 added a melody to their drum and bass and chord progression to continue creating their hip hop track.

Year 3 have had a fantastic week! In English, we wrote our own versions of Cinderella of the Nile and then edited our writing for both corrections and improvements. In Maths, we learnt to tell the time on a digital clock and we also learnt the difference between am and pm. In History, we explored some artefacts from ancient Egypt and wrote questions in order to find out what they could tell us about life in ancient Egypt. In Science, we planned and conducted an investigation to find the best surface to help cars stop in an escape lane. In PE, we began learning all about tag rugby and we started by practising passing a ball with a partner. In Guided Reading, we finished reading Earth Shattering Events and read the section on avalanches. We used our retrieval and inference skills to answer questions on avalanches and then we thought of some strategies to help us when we don’t know what a word means.

In HMS Echo (year 3), the children read the story Firebird and we had a class discussion about what the book was about and the different characters. We also discussed what we liked and disliked about the book. In Maths, we have began learning about Shape, where we have started learning about the different angles. In History, we did some research using primary and secondary sources of evidence about a man named Lord Shaftesbury and why he was considered a good Victorian. In Art, the children have made some monster sculptures and they glazed them this week ready to be fired. In our Values session, we looked at what inspiration means and the children made up their own inspirational quotes. In Science, we began learning about sound and how sounds are made. Finally, a HUGE well done to the children in Year 4 who completed their multiplication test. They have worked so hard and I really do think their hard work has paid off. We should get their results in July but thank you so much for your support with this at home.

Well done to the year 5 group who went to Shebbear College this week to take part in the U10 cricket festival. Your excellent behaviour and attitude to learning new skills was observed by the staff there. Thank you Mrs Evans and Jasper for taking the group for the afternoon. In maths this week we have started our unit on decimals; using known facts to add and subtract decimals within 1 and finding complements to 1. In our writing this week we have continued with the dragonology text; writing about different species of our subject. We looked at using chromatography in science and found out what coloured inks were used in felt tip pens. In the outdoor learning session we used our knowledge of habitats to discover what we could find in the school wooded area and pond.

Year 6 has been busy with a Design and Technology project this week. It has taken creativity, skill and patience. They have found out about cams and how they can be used to turn rotary motion into either linear or a different rotary motion. They have created a variety of automata linked to work on Lundy (seascapes). Not all are fully finished, but there are some wonderful creations. Alongside this, they have been rehearsing the play and gathering props – it is not ready yet but we have moved into the larger space of the hall. Many children have mastered their lines , but we really need all children to have learnt them. They have also begun finding out about the Mayan Civilisation in their History and Geography work.